RAF Reaper drone stops public execution by Isis after crew spots shackled prisoners being led to their deaths
Pilots operating drone via satellite unleash Hellfire missile in Abu Kamal, Syria
AN RAF Reaper drone halted a gruesome public execution by Isis, it was revealed yesterday.
It unleashed a Hellfire missile as crews operating it remotely spied two shackled prisoners being led to their deaths.
The men had just been unloaded from a van in front of a baying mob — which the missile avoided.
Instead a nearby roof was targeted, taking a direct hit and killing one of two armed members of the terror cult standing guard.
The explosion sent the crowd fleeing in Abu Kamal, Syria.
Last night the prisoners’ fate was unclear after the drone pilots lost sight of them in the chaos.
A source said: “It was like something from Robin Hood.
“These guys faced certain death but unknown to everyone the RAF were watching and ready to act.”
The drone was on a reconnaissance mission and is thought to have been piloted via satellite from RAF Waddington, Lincs, when the gathering crowd was spotted.
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The MoD refused to say if it was a crew there, or one at a US base in Nevada, that fired the missile.
A spokesman confirmed: “It became clear Daesh were organising a public execution.”
The “large number of civilians present” were not hurt as the strike brought the execution to an “immediate halt”.
The official added: “Daesh fighters fled the scene.”
